Review of The Social Express – Best Social Skills apps for Teenagers

March 29, 2013

Review of The Social Express – Best Social Skills apps for Teenagers

By Helen Wagner

Overall Impression

This is the most comprehensive social skills app which I have found, to date. I highly recommend it to SLP’s, parents and teachers of socially deficient students. It’s lessons must not be rushed through.

The Social Express is a unique movie-like set of interactive training/practice lessons in using Hidden Social Keys or rules, in order to enable users to become more socially competent and to fit in with a group. It is intended for elementary to middle school aged learners who do not understand unspoken social rules. The Hidden Social Keys are: Keep your body facing a group; Look at who is talking; Use your eyes, ears and brain to figure things out; Talk about what the group is talking about, Monitor and adjust your behavior when you’re with a group; Look at what others are looking at; Try to figure out what to do based on how others are feeling; and talk about things that others like to talk about. There are two levels of instruction to choose from, depending on the severity of the social delay. The app is designed to be completed with a teacher and a learner working together to explore a variety of social situations. The user makes choices about what should be done in given social situations. The teacher and learner discuss the different scenarios presented and problem solve together to determine the appropriate course of action in various social situations. A pause button allows discussion and questioning during each activity. 12 coping strategies are also taught. The program comes with an online user guide, printables (achievement awards, feelings cards, coping strategies, hidden social keys cards, and character profiles). Emma, Zack and their dog are the featured, animated characters who are faced with social scenarios in a realistic environment/world. The characters use a hand-held “Digital Problem Solving” device to make appropriate behavioral decisions. A matching app called DPS
(Digital Problem Solving) can be purchased separately to go along with the use of Social Express. The Social Express provides for specific practice of social skills.